ChatGPT at Capacity Right Now? Try These 9 Fixes.

Two worried users looking at an error screen of ChatGPT being at capacity

If you’re using the free version of ChatGPT from OpenAI, you’ve probably run into the “ChatGPT is at capacity right now” error. Here are some fixes:

Some Obvious Fixes

  1. Use it off peak hours: avoid 1pm – 4pm EST
  2. Hit “Refresh” and try again
  3. Log out and log back in
  4. Try it on another device: mobile or desktop
  5. Clear cookies or access ChatGPT from an incognito (private) window
  6. Use a VPN to login from a different IP address where it is nighttime and usage is lower
  7. Pay $20/month for ChatGPT Plus, which gets you priority access

If you’re curious about whether ChatGPT is having a “major outage” and is completely down for everyone, you can check DownDetector, or go to OpenAI’s status page: https://status.openai.com:

Status of OpenAI services

Fix: Use the OpenAI “Playground”

You’ll notice in the screenshot above, the “Playground” (https://platform.openai.com/playground) is always available. When most else fails, this is your best bet to access the underlying technology of the free (GPT-3.5) version of ChatGPT. After logging in to the Playground, make sure to select the “Chat” dropdown option and then just type your questions and click on “Submit”:

OpenAI playground screenshot

OpenAI gives you 3 months, or $18 worth of free access to the Playground, whichever runs out first. Generally speaking, if you’re only asking questions and not doing some fancy developer stuff, you will run out of time before money — since each chat typically only costs a few cents. If you add your credit card, you can very inexpensively access the ChatGPT anytime you want without paying a monthly fee. OpenAI will charge you once your fees hit $200, which might take many years. The playground doesn’t give you access to the latest GPT-4 model, though.

Fix: Use an Alternative Chatbot

Here are the alternatives to ChatGPT and some backdoor ways of accessing it.

A) Microsoft Copilot

Microsoft’s Copilot (https://copilot.microsoft.com) is a chatbot that uses a modified model that the paid version of ChatGPT uses.

Bing chat drawing of a kitten

PROs: You can ask it to draw images, using the “More Creative” setting. It can access the internet to search for information. It’s free.

CONs: It has more commercial messages and it doesn’t offer all the features (e.g., Projects and GPTs) that ChatGPT does.

B) Google Gemini

Gemini (https://gemini.google.com) is Google’s counterpart to ChatGPT. Gemini is based off Google’s own large language model, PALM-2 (“Pathways Language Model”).

PROs: It’s free and generally available at all times. It has an excellent image generator. It can integrate with Gmail and Google Docs.

CONs: No “Projects” feature. Not platform agnostic.

C) Use Poe to Compare Chatbots

Poe (https://poe.com) is freemium service created by Quora. It allows you to choose among multiple chatbots for your query. So even if ChatGPT is at capacity right now, you may be able to access it via Poe. If you want fewer limits on the number of chats, you can pay Poe $20/month to get more or less 1,600 chats per month and choose between multiple chatbots:

Poe service to query multiple chatbots

D) Other Chatbots

Now that the large language model technology is out of the bag, lots of companies are creating their own LLMs. Worth checking out:

  • Claude from Anthropic: https://claude.ai — one of the smartest chatbots
  • Perplexity from Perplexity AI: https://www.perplexity.ai — no need to register, just type your question; can access Reddit and Wolfram Alpha.
  • Grok from X: https://grok.com — can search tweets on X.
  • Deepseek: https://heypi.com/talk — no need to register, and it wants to start a friendly conversation, not just answer your question

To get more tips and tricks like this, register for our ChatGPT Workshop.

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